Three people die, two are injured, an entire region is in shock. After a 64-year-old man allegedly caused a bloodbath in the municipality of Langweid near Augsburg on Friday evening (the star reported), the investigation is ongoing. This is what is known about the case so far:
According to the police’s current knowledge, the bloody deed is based on a neighborhood dispute. In the course of this, the suspect is said to have shot three people in an apartment building around 7:15 p.m., two of them in the stairwell, one person through the apartment door. He then drove his car to another house and is said to have injured two other people with his gun – also with shots through the apartment door. What the dispute was about is still completely unclear. “The background to the crime is currently the subject of investigations,” the police said. Officials were able to arrest the alleged perpetrator in his car in a neighboring town about half an hour after the first shots were fired. He is said not to have resisted.
The apartment building is the home of the suspected gunman. Brightly whitewashed, two floors, it is in the middle of a residential area in the center of the 9000-inhabitant community on the Lech. The second crime scene is around 500 meters as the crow flies on the south-western edge of the community, also in a residential area.
The attack killed a 49-year-old woman, her 52-year-old husband and a 72-year-old woman. “It was about neighbors who lived in the same apartment building,” said the police. At the second crime scene, a 32-year-old and a 44-year-old were injured. The man was related to the dead couple. Both injured were taken to the hospital. Danger to life should not have existed.
A few hours after the crime, not much is known about the person arrested and his history, apart from his age (64). Prosecutors and police are keeping a low profile on many details of the case.
Investigators did not say which weapon the arrested man fired with. In the man’s car, they discovered two handguns, i.e. pistols or revolvers, when they were arrested. According to the information, further weapons were secured in his apartment. The police did not give any further details, except: “The 64-year-old has so far known that the man apparently owned several different weapons as a sports shooter and also had a gun permit.” Weapons experts from the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office are involved in the investigation.
After being alerted shortly after the shots were fired, the Bavarian police moved to Langweid with a large contingent. A helicopter was also circling over the area. The Bavarian Red Cross was also on duty, treating the injured and providing the crisis intervention service. The tension dropped after the suspect was arrested – and forensics began their work. Until early Saturday morning, officials in white protective suits could be seen at the crime scenes, witnesses and residents were questioned, and the surroundings were cordoned off. The search for the motive for the crime is now underway, in which questioning the suspect will play an important role. He is scheduled to appear before the magistrate this weekend.
Sources: Police Headquarters Swabia North (1), Police Headquarters Swabia North (2), Police Headquarters Swabia North (3), Bavarian Red Cross, DPA and AFP news agencies
